UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and the International Criminal Court Prosecutor: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Palestinian People

We rise in solidarity with Palestinian liberation, including the call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions!The Chicago Pride Parade has a long history of allowing organizations that engage in pinkwashing–the promotion of Israel’s supposed positive record on LGBTQ rights as a means to distract from their brutal crimes against Palestine–to participate in the Parade. The presence of groups like A Wider Bridge, Stand With Us, and the Israeli Consulate General dishonors the legacy of the trans women of color who galvanized our movement. As an explicitly anti-Zionist collective leading an explicitly anti-Zionist coalition which includes Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian organizers, we reject any celebration of the illegal Israeli state in the Chicago Pride Parade. Trans and queer people will not be used as propaganda for a genocidal, settler-colonial state, in an attempt to spread racist and Islamophobic tropes about Palestinian culture. Pinkwashing, Zionism, settler colonialism, and genocide have no place in queer struggle. As a coalition, we proudly join the calls to free Palestine!

The organization “A Wider Bridge” is one element of a concerted effort by the state of Israel to erase its ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people by portraying itself as a tolerant, modern haven for queer people and a prime site for LGBT tourism, including study abroad programs. Participating in a study abroad program in Israel means participating in the ongoing apartheid and genocide of the Palestinian people. Do not become co-opted by Israel to cover for its violent and oppressive policies.

We are not interested in a dialogue with organizations such as A Wider Bridge and Slugs for Israel. Dialogue has no meaning while apartheid and genocide continue.